


Safe Haven

by pixiedurango



Category: Richard Armitage - Fandom
Genre: Angst, Arguing, Communication, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Love, Love and Understanding, Self Confidence Issues, Self-Worth Issues, almost break up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-29
Updated: 2018-12-29
Packaged: 2019-09-30 00:16:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17213531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pixiedurango/pseuds/pixiedurango
Summary: Original prompt:Can I request a RichardxReader with the number 12? The reader is unlike him, a little shy about to show her naked body, she always turn red when his eyes stare at her naked or even clothed curves. He likes very much her body and he teases her a little bit for her shyness. After a night of love, she wakes up with the urgency to pee but she can’t find something to cover herself. He is sleeping so she decided to go to the bathroom naked, but actually he’s awake.I’m deeply sorry but this might have turned out completely different than you might have wished for. I was chewing on this particular prompt for a very long time and had no idea how to make it work. I hope you can come to like what happened in the process even though it is not even a reader insert since I’m really uncomfortable writing them.





	Safe Haven

**Author's Note:**

> This belongs to a collection of prompts I opened up for my followers on tumblr to choose a character portrayed by Richard Armitage and a collection of sensual/sexy gifs I put together merely for this purpose.  
> After the tumblr purge many of the stories got banned/deleted/hidden which I assume due to the nature of the gifs since the stories itself are rarely really explicit.  
> This is why I eventually decided to transfer my works to my Ao3 which I didn't do for the sheer number of Fandoms/Shows/Characters those stories belong to. My admiration for Richard Armitage let me write all those stories and I hope people will like it.  
> The gifs will be posted along with the stories so readers might decide whether I caught the spirit or not.

 

 

He had no idea how they had ended up like that. Sitting in his kitchen at the dead of night, the annoyingly ticking clock at the wall told him mercilessly that it was 2:30am, which meant 3 hours before he would have to leave to set again.   
  
He stirred some Nescafe into the two mugs on the counter, topping it with some steamed milk before he placed them on the table between them. Tired and swollen was her face framed with messy untamable hair, eyes red from crying and he knew he did not look an inch better. Make up department would have a hard time tomorrow to cover up dark circles and red eyes to turn him into some kind of presentable version of himself. Still in his opinion and no matter how tired and annoyed he was, she was still the most gorgeous woman for him and he wanted to get over this silly argument as fast as possible.

“Look darling, I said it already and will tell it again and again until you believe me and we settle this… what ever it is.” He reluctantly started the conversation after they both had a silent first sip. “I’m sorry for what ever’s gone wrong with me over there.” He wiped his face with his large hand in both, slight desperation and exhaustion and ended up rubbing his neck in an insecure and nervous gesture. He would have to go look for some Aspirin later and not for the first time tonight he asked himself whether it was worth it, sitting around debating their relationship when they should sleep rather than arguing about he-said she-said crap.

“You don’t even understand what happened, do you?” She muttered into her mug with a cracked voice, tired from crying and her own agitation which she seemed to not be able to explain to him in an understandable way.  

“Maybe you try to enlighten me then?” Richard tried to calm himself. Being accused to not care for his girlfriend, even the worse, by said girlfriend herself was hard. He was not this kind of man, partner, he always wanted to believe and it kept nagging on him that he obviously failed his own standards. “I mean, one minute we’re all good and happy in bed and the next I find you crying in the bathroom. Darling… come on, talk to me!” He reached over the table to grab her hand and was not surprised it was ice cold and slightly trembling.

“I simply should not have expected that you’ll ever understand. I mean, I’m used to be always reminded that I’m…” She shrugged aimlessly and stared down onto the table as if the wooden patters were the most interesting thing in the world before she started over with her not-that-helpful-explanations. “Probably we should simply accept that we’ll forever play in different leagues and that it’s madness what we are so desperately trying here. Maybe it’s simply not meant to be.”

Richard barely believed his ears. After all that they had been going through together. It hurt him down to the core and his natural reaction was to shield himself against what ever painful thing she was implying.   
“Simply as that? Without even telling me what the fuck is wrong with you and giving me the chance to make up for it as obviously the wrong doing was on my side here? Well if that is what you want…”

Finally she looked at him again. Eyes met and he could see that it clearly was  _not_  what she wanted. Having to search for the right words before she was able to continue. “It’s not that easy. I try. Really I try so hard every single day. But it’s actually very hard being constantly reminded that I’m simply never  _enough_. Not tall enough, not skinny enough not pretty enough, not successful enough… It’s bad enough that everyone else constantly judges and bullies me but my own boyfriend? In the bedroom? That hurts even more.”   
  
He felt she was about to flinch even from the little touch they shared but finally left him her hand in his.  
“Oh, love… again, I apologize. I was joking and I might have stopped thinking for a moment.”

“Clearly.” She mumbled back.

But Richard could be stubborn, too and so he could not hold himself back to give her a slightly snarky reply in return.  
“Ah now come on, I fucking  _teased_  you. Maybe I should have watched my words better and maybe it was not the best time to slap your ass but honestly, what gives you the idea that I do not adore you. And that I would not understand someone being self conscious about their physical appearance?”

“Because you are drop dead gorgeous and have literally an army of admirers behind you who… basically worship you and your work. And they hate me with the same passion they love you. The chubby girlfriend waddling next to the heartthrob.” Tears were rolling down her cheeks again and between little sobs she pressed out her words.

Richard got up with a sigh to grab a box of tissues and she made a little grateful noise as she pulled out a few to dry her face and wipe her nose. He knew she hated making drama and crying in front of him was definitely something she’d rather not do at any given time. He realized his earlier cheeky bedroom slip probably had been way less harmless and cute to her than he’d assumed it would be. He wanted to object and tell her straight away that he did not care about anyone but her but he realized that it would not be helpful at this point.

Dating actresses and models for so many years clearly had not prepared him for the challenges of making it work with a literal girl next door.

Making their relationship public had been a long, well thought and planned process and they had a lot of conversations in advance about what could and would happen and they had thought they were prepared for everything. But obviously it was harder than expected. 

Eventually she would have to learn to deal with it. All he could do to help her he would gladly do but it was her task to accept that she was a gorgeous woman inside and out and deserved all the love.   
But first of all he felt the need to clarify something else and a low chuckle escaped him as he sat back onto the kitchen table grabbing for her hand once more.  
“You’ve seen the old pictures of me haven’t you? When I was a lanky teenager and twen incapable of coordinating all those limbs and look decent while trying? I was a bean pole with a nose and actually awkward as fuck. Sometimes I still fail to understand why just anybody would consider me a hot bloke at all. So, yes I understand you quite a bit, love. And I adore you, love you, just the way you are.”

She shrugged, still a bit indifferent but he understood that it was hard to embrace for someone with a history of self esteem issues to believe even when being constantly being told that they were loved and valued.   
  
Was she worth it? Richard almost scolded himself that he even doubted it. She was the one and worth any trouble along the way.

He rose from the kitchen table again, not letting go of her hand which forced her eventually to get up with him. They stood in his kitchen in the dead of night and all he wanted was pulling her close into his arms to hold and show his affection.  

“Bear with me, please.” She murmured against his chest, relieved to finally be capable of letting him hold her again. She loved him after all. For everything he was. A good person, a true gentleman and how he deeply cared for her. Funny and thoughtful, annoying at times even but always 100% in for their relationship. She could become better for him. Stronger. Learn to love herself more. “Maybe one day being called roly-poly before getting my ass slapped might not trigger such a reaction anymore but as of now… I’d rather not have things like that.”

He chuckled before he bent down to finally meet her lips and he was just glad to feel her relax under his kiss.  
“I solemnly swear I’ll literally kill everyone else who dares to call you something like that outside our bedroom!” He announced with a mischievous grin once their lips had parted again and hearing her giggle was everything.

“Would you mind keeping this and anything alike outside of our bedroom either? Like outside of our  _life_? Please?” This was not about growing a thicker skin, this was about having a safe haven.

“Granted. Again, I swear, love! No more chubby jokes and nicknames. Now can we  _please_  go back to bed?” Richard sported his best puppy eyes at her and she continued giggling as she finally nodded her agreement.


End file.
